This week’s EFI Connect annual worldwide user’s conference in Las Vegas will include a keynote session with 15-year-old fashion designer Ariel Swedroe, who uses her grandfather’s artwork in her fabric designs.

Charmaine Moldrich, CEO of Australia’s Outdoor Media Association (OMA) and Dino Burbidge, director of Tech at London agency WCRS, have been added to the judging panel for global OOH association FEPE’s 2019 awards to be held in London.

Suppliers association Visual Connections has appointed Sarah Moore as its new business development officer and will add two more staff members in the lead up to its trade show PrintEx19 to be held in Sydney in August.

Durst, an inkjet pioneer and manufacturer of digital print and production technologies, is expanding its large format printing (LFP) division under new dual leadership and shifting flatbed production to its new headquarters in Brixen, Italy.

Paper company and wide format supplier Spicers, formerly PaperlinX, has signed a $A147.6 million 'Scheme of Implementation' agreement, leading to a 'Scheme of Arrangement' to sell its entire Australia and New Zealand operations to Japan-based global paper company Kokusai Pulp & Paper Co (KPP). The sorry history of PaperlinX/Spicers has seen the company reduced to a pale shadow of its former self, with shares that once traded above $6 ending Thursday 17th Jan at 5.3 cents.

UK digital manufacturing company Fluxaxis used its Massivit 1800 3D Printer to print stunning life-size figures that feature in a ‘Make Blood Cancer Visible’ campaign for pharmaceutical company, Janssen. Meanwhile, an increase in sales has led to Massivit opening a new European demo centre in Belgium.

French out-of-home giant JCDecaux dismissed reports that it’s close to signing a $300 million outdoor advertising deal with the City of Sydney - one of the most lucrative outdoor contracts in Australia.

Fastsigns International, the US-based parent of signage and graphics franchise company Signwave Australia, has again been ranked the #1 franchise in its category in Entrepreneur magazine’s 40th annual Franchise 500 list.

67,000 visitors joined more than 3,000 exhibitors including leading digital inkjet manufacturers at the largest international trade fair for interior textiles held last week in Frankfurt, which organisers say set a new standard in terms of sustainability.

Antalis has introduced a new range of retroreflective films to its visual communication range. Oralite 5200 is weather-proof and self-adhesive and has been developed for the manufacture of information signs, such as road traffic signage.

The New Zealand Sign and Display Association (NZSDA) appealed to its members to support the new SIGNEE training initiative that begins this year with the launch of a pilot program in Christchurch before being rolled out in Auckland and Wellington.

Swiss large format manufacturer swissQprint’s latest addition to its range of high-end flatbed printers, the Karibu roll to roll machine, will make its debut at the Fespa show in Munich, 14 - 17 May, 2019.

One year ago, after Fujifilm’s USD$6.1 billion tilt at Xerox, Xerox stock traded at $33.99 per share. That was about the value Fujifilm put on it, notwithstanding the creative nature of the proposed takeover, which involved a debt swap and little cash. On top of this was $9.80 per share as a ‘special dividend’ in cash.Today’s last close of Xerox shares, even after following Wall Street up, was $21.58. The genius of the dissident shareholders Carl Ichan and Darwin Deason, plus their new puppet board, has wiped a third of the value off the company. If ever egg was to be all over faces, it should be theirs.

“We are not going to try to persuade Xerox" - Fujifilm chairman says the company’s alliance with Xerox will continue despite the legal fight over Fujifilm’s attempted takeover of the iconic US company.

When it comes to placing round pegs in round recruitment holes, few if any do it better than JDA Print Recruitment. Also, few are prepared to speak out and take a position on bureaucratic block-headedness that prevents our industry and country from benefitting from excellent skills and commitment that some migrants can bring in, as JDA’s James Cryer and Chris Gander. Juliette Fossa, an experienced print professional from South Africa, is James Cryer’s latest cause célèbre. Juliette visited Sydney this week to meet with potential employer-sponsors and a praiseworthy pollie, Trent Zimmerman, Federal Member for North Sydney, in Cryer’s electorate. At least someone is listening, but the road-blocks to a successful move are legion, as Cryer explains.